During lunch every day, students and staff at La Pine High School can use the Mid Oregon Credit Union branch inside the school. Students serve as tellers, and the manager of the credit union’s La Pine branch oversees the school branch as well.

Manager Tiffany Zeiler ensures students learn financial literacy as part of their work at the bank — a skill not always taught in the classroom, she said. The paid internships allow students to gain early work experience and financial knowledge, aspects Zeiler is especially proud of.

“(Student tellers) come in as students that are really shy in their interviews with us, and watching them grow throughout their high school career to be individuals who exude self-confidence and can carry on conversations with adults fluently, and just seeing what they’ve all achieved and where they’re going is amazing,” said Zeiler.

Something for the community

In 2017, Mid Oregon Credit Union began the student branch at the high school, with the help of school staff.

“With the total (student) population of 435, it’s not a money-making thing; it’s a community service,” said Kyle Frick, Mid Oregon’s vice president for marketing and community relations. “The La Pine community has embraced this at a high level. We have members that come into the branch and ask to do transactions with the student tellers so they can get more practice.”

The branch opened at La Pine High because credit union leaders wondered what else they could do for the community, said Frick. The main credit union branch in La Pine is across the street from the high school.

“We looked at it from a perspective of this was going to be our first one, and it still is our first one. We’re still looking at building another one in another school,” said Frick. “The idea was we could start with a small branch in a small school … It was a different type of thinking for our team.”

Larger high schools across the country are more likely to have bank branches in schools.

Students can open checking accounts and receive debit cards at age 16, which is often what they receive help with at the school branch. This allows them to begin learning how to manage money before striking out on their own.

“During the summer, when we have the student tellers working, members come in and they’ll wait for them in line so they can talk with them and talk about how things are going, what they’re learning,” said Zeiler. “It’s also been a great way for us to get great employees.”

Zeiler shared the story of a former student teller who kept the job even when he attended Central Oregon Community College, and is now a full-time loan officer for Mid Oregon Credit Union. At only 20 years old, he has three years of banking experience. Other students have gone away for school and then come back to work in the summer, she said.

Cashing checks or getting change

The student branch is open for 45 minutes at lunch, and the three student tellers might also work at the La Pine branch after school and over the summer.

“I graduated from La Pine High School, so it’s nice to be able to go back over to the school I graduated from and get to mentor the young students that are going to school there now,” said Zeiler.

Students use the branch for lunch money or getting change, while staff deposit or cash checks, said Zeiler.

Student tellers learn about credit and balancing a checkbook, and also take business classes at the high school.

Mid Oregon Credit Union also runs a program on financial literacy for high schools called Bite of Reality, where students are given a living situation and must learn how to budget. The scenario also gives students a credit score, meaning they may not be able to purchase a home.

At Realms High School, sessions run in the fall and spring. All Crook County High School ninth graders also go through the program.

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